Observation
When I stand in the back of the class, I do notice some of the students who are not paying attention. The teacher usually catches the student and then tells them to pay attention. In my other practicums, students would misbehave or act out or continuously not pay attention. I have not seen that type of behavior at my school. However, some of the students may have side conversations during the teacher's lecture. As soon as my CT notices the student's lack of interest, she gets the student's attention and refuses them back to the lecture.
My CT engages the students by following each lecture with a worksheet or a lab demonstration that reinforces the lecture. If the teacher gives a worksheet, the teacher allows the students to work in pairs. If there is a lab demonstration, the students work in pairs; By working in pairs and visiting the different stations, the teacher reinforces the lecture and allows the students another way to comprehend the information. This is how my CT uses student engagement within her lectures.
Reflection
I think two important aspects to teaching are 1) respecting the student as a human being and 2) having student engagement during the lecture. As someone who sit through a lot of college lectures, one of the questions I always ask my self is "How can this course be more interesting". The course will always be more interesting if there is student engagement and participation. A student's attention span is typically ten minutes. If the period is over an hour, the teacher needs to have a level of student engagement or the teacher will just be going through the motions of teaching.
Observation
When I stand in the back of the class, I do notice some of the students who are not paying attention. The teacher usually catches the student and then tells them to pay attention. In my other practicums, students would misbehave or act out or continuously not pay attention. I have not seen that type of behavior at my school. However, some of the students may have side conversations during the teacher's lecture. As soon as my CT notices the student's lack of interest, she gets the student's attention and refuses them back to the lecture.
My CT engages the students by following each lecture with a worksheet or a lab demonstration that reinforces the lecture. If the teacher gives a worksheet, the teacher allows the students to work in pairs. If there is a lab demonstration, the students work in pairs; By working in pairs and visiting the different stations, the teacher reinforces the lecture and allows the students another way to comprehend the information. This is how my CT uses student engagement within her lectures.
Reflection
I think two important aspects to teaching are 1) respecting the student as a human being and 2) having student engagement during the lecture. As someone who sit through a lot of college lectures, one of the questions I always ask my self is "How can this course be more interesting". The course will always be more interesting if there is student engagement and participation. A student's attention span is typically ten minutes. If the period is over an hour, the teacher needs to have a level of student engagement or the teacher will just be going through the motions of teaching.